Effective immediately, looks like Sling Passes are no more.

The update from Sling reads:

Sling was built to give our customers the ultimate control over their entertainment, and Sling Passes delivered on that promise for millions. Though Sling Passes are no longer available, we look forward to continuing to innovate and showing our customers new ways to experience the content they love.

https://www.sling.com/pm/promise

So for my birthday, my wife and brother got me a modded-out iPod Classic for my birthday since I expressed a desire to step back from the all-consuming smartphone. In 2026, an iPod works on a modern Mac on all features except for video. Modern videos are locked down for being too high resolution and, in Apple's case, DRM. Well, my local PBS station is having an excellent run of commercial-free movies, so the thought came to me to research DVRs to be able to record said movies to begin building out a DRM-free video library compatible on an iPod.

What is the recommended DVR out there that works for Antenna TV? There are a lot of no-name brands, and I wanted to get an idea as to what works and what is cheap junk. I just need the ability to record to a .mp4 file.

I have an older 75" Samsung Smart TV. Problem is no new updates for Criterion App and WillowTV app.

I'm perfectly happy with the Samsung TV, but I want to watch those two apps (and likely other apps coming with no updates for my older TV). Essentially, I want those two apps to stream on my TV (not computer or phone) but don't need new TV.

I'm looking for recommendations for add on devices, and hoping to avoid glitches that be associated with the conversion btwn TV and device.

Thanks for any help as always!!

Rabbitears link: https://www.rabbitears.info/searchmap.php?request=result&study_id=3055578

Rough diagram of my apartment:

The apartment is about 60-70ft from the ground. I think the direction of the signal towers is right where the rest of the apartment building lies, so I think my own apartment building is in the way of the signal!

Things that I've tried:

- ChannelMaster Flatenna

- Philips rabbit ears

- With and without an amplifier (unfortunately I don't have the product info on this)

The problem

- The signal for channels ABC and CBS (which are VHF-HI) is very spotty

- I've tried placing the antennas on different spots on the wall and on the window at different height

- There seems to be one small spot behind & above the TV where the channels work. However, it's not reliable because moving the antenna just a millimeter makes the quality go down.

- Can't use an outdoor antenna since this is a rental apartment

What are some other things I can try? I would really like to watch TV without having to adjust the antenna every time I switch the channel (and I only need to watch like 4 channels total)

Edit: Edited Amazon links to not have affiliate bs

Hello, I am looking for help to improve my current antenna-based tv viewing, so first please bear with me for a few details of where I am at currently.

Here is my rabbit ears link: https://www.rabbitears.info/s/3054073

I live in an apartment and can only do an indoor wall/window mount. Towers are 39 miles to the southwest and I am in the northeast corner on the 2nd (top) floor. I thought when I first moved here a while ago that because of the distance and being on basically the wrong side of the building that I wouldn't be able to pick up anything, and my old wall/window antenna wouldn't.

So I bought an Antennas Direct amplified loop, mounted it high in the window and suddenly I could get 23, 27, 47 and 57 clear as day. But 15 only comes in occasionally/randomly on a cold winter night, and then only for an hour or two before it turns into zig-zags. 3 never comes in because this loop doesn't support VHF. I was not aware at the time I bought it of the UHF/VHF difference - live and learn.

So I'd like to find a solution that could get these two channels along with the rest. I'd also like to know why the rabbitears listing has CBS3 listed twice, once as fair and once as poor?

I don't care about any other stations on the list, just the four I currently get and the other two that I'd like to. Any suggestions appreciated.

I recently moved about 1 mile (as a crow flies) from my previous house. On my previous house I had this antenna mounted on my roof: RCA Compact Outdoor or Attic Yagi HD TV Antenna with Super Long 75 Mile Range – Digital OTA Antenna for Clear VHF & UHF Reception.

On my brand new house, i don't have anything to mount to on the roof and don't want to drill holes. So I'm looking at mounting an antenna in my attic. I live on the north side of town, so the good news is I can get a directional antenna and point it towards the southeast and it will generally pick up all of the local tv antennas.

Questions:

1. For a new antenna that will be in an attic, pointing through an OSB and Asphalt Shingle roof how can I best "boost" it?

2. The attic is a long run from my basement server rack where my Tablo device sits. How does Coax do running about 60-80 feet? Am I better putting an outlet in the attic and putting the Tablo up there and running a cat6 ethernet the 60-80 feet down to my server rack in the basement?

3. What antenna would you recommend for this? I need about 20 miles of directional range MAX.

Unfortunately, last night I got greeted with another price increase notification from Hulu stating our plan was going to increase up to $104.99/mo. We have ESPN+ and Disney+ as well in our plan and are looking to cut some fat. In our house we mostly watch Hockey and Football. We can get football on our Ch2 4 and 11. Hockey is our RSN, TNT, and ESPN. Occasionally some games air on NHL Network. I'd imagine we're open to any and all ideas because this blows.

What do y’all think of the Televes DAT BOSS MIX LR (149884) vs. getting the Channel Master Pro-Model CM-1776 with the Channel Master UHF Extension? The Televes would be around $200, and the CM-1776 plus the UHF Extension would be about $198 total. BTW will be used for 3 tvs.

Here is my RabbitEars info: https://www.rabbitears.info/s/3041847

Is there any chance I could put a TV antenna on top of my house, or should I stick with cable? What antenna would you recommend?

I turned closed my Directv account yesterday and I'm trying to figure out which provider is the best option for locals with dvr and multiple multiple streams. I'm leaning towards YouTubeTv but I'm also looking at Hulu plus live tv, if anyone is willing to lend their opinions on these it would be greatly appreciated.

Looking to set up an indoor attic antenna to watch local NFL games but looking for as much advice as possible. It will be set up in a tall home so height should be a bit higher than in the report. The attic will also be empty outside of the antenna.

Rabbit ears: https://www.rabbitears.info/s/3040838

I’m getting sick of dealing with my cable company and am looking for some advice. I already stream a few of the usual suspects, but I am wondering how do people receive local channels. Also is it possible to record local channels once the cord is cut.

For the most part I had been happy with my cable provider until I had a tech problem and they wanted to scan my system instead of just scheduling a service visit (which I would have been fine paying for).

I disassembled this antenna for a friend. We are wondering if the steel base can be taken out of the ground? Is it set in concrete? Or is it just pounded down?

Picture of my dumbass digging a bit to see if it moves >.< it did not

I cut the cord 18 months age (Detroit area). Since the change I,ve noticed a huge fraction of the ads I'm seeing are really annoying -- clips of cripped children with sobbing parents begging for money, ambulance chaser lawyers suggesting you should sue someone, and of course drug companies hawking their latest overpriced cure-all pills. This is definitely different than what I saw on cable.

This leads to two questions:

1) Do you know if channels air ads OTA that are different from what they air on cable? I have no doubt that using modern apps it should be possible to split their advertising output so ads are different in each cable stream that they air in different neighborhoods or cities. Obviously this can't be done via antenna towers.

2) Do channels/networks see the OTA market as less important than cable (less profitable)? Maybe because they can't target us the way they can on cable because there is no cable company (profitably) selling our personal viewing and demographic info to advertisers? This may be why they don't bother to try to air ads from bigger business and resort to schlocky PSA-ish fare for the (presumably) down-market money-saving OTA viewers.

Hello, I’m trying to find the best antenna for my situation. I live in the hills of western North Carolina and I would like to put up an OTA antenna.

I have been looking at the Range Xperia XPS-1500 but I’m not sure. I would love to hear what this community would recommend.

https://www.rabbitears.info/searchmap.php?request=result&sort=field&unit=uVm&suppoff=Y&sslimit=N&study_id=3032805&opkey=C

I have been trying to limit the amount of streaming services I have and buying media instead. However I have looked several times and I can't find a way to legitimately buy Heart of Dixie.

the only way I see to stream it is through Prime video but they only sell season 1. Any suggestions?

We are strongly considering dumping HULU live now because it’s just too much. We are Philadelphia sports fans and in the Phila market in South Jersey. My wife has us subscribed to Peacock, I heard there is a tier to add NBC Sports net to see 76ers and Flyers. Does that cover it?

At least on the apps while watching football. ESPN and Peacock are about 13 seconds behind and Fox One was almost identical. A huge welcome change for someone who has both.

Does ATSC 3.0 have a longer delay than 1.0?

So I've cut the cord and I'm pretty happy about it. And believe me I do not want to watch cable news all the time. But I think on election night I will want CNN (John King and his election map).

So what do I do? I have a Samsung TV and there is an app, but it requires me to plug in a TV provider (which I do not have-unless I pick my internet provider, which does not seem correct since it specifically asks for TV). Do I just go to the web and stream/subscribe? Kind of annoying that there is an app that I cannot use to subscribe on.

Any other election junkies who cut the cord?

I was curious about what watching movies really costs so I pulled up The NY Times "Best 100 Movies of the 21st Century" as a proxy list, then researched availability and cost on streaming platforms in the US.¹ This is a manual compilation, not AI.

TL;DR: As of this weekend, it costs between $250-$310 to legally stream all NY Times Top 100 Films of the 21st Century. You can get 1/4 of them from the library for free and use Amazon and Netflix at minimum for the rest.

Streaming services checked via JustWatch:²

• Hoopla, free/library
• Kanopy, free/library
• Amazon Prime
• AppleTV
• Disney+
• HBOMax
• Hulu
• Netflix
• Paramount+
• Peacock

My findings:

• 28 of the Top 100 films are available for free on Hoopla or Kanopy with a library card.
• No service has all 100 either included or available for rent/purchase. The closest is Amazon with 96 followed by AppleTV with 44.
• There is 1 film only available on Netflix (ROMA, 2018).
• Factoring in the monthly subscription and the films available at the library, Disney+, Peacock, and AppleTV do not deliver more than they cost.

The most efficient way to see all 100 movies (as in the fewest accounts/subscriptions):

The least expensive way to see all the films:

Since y'all asked, I checked Tubi. They have 13 of the 100 films available, with just 4 that aren't also on Hoopla/Kanopy: Best In Show, Before Sunset, Little Miss Sunshine, and Superbad. So you'd save about $12.

¹ These are considering only legal services in the US. Availability across platforms is constantly changing so will be different next month.

² There are others like YouTube, Roku, etc. but I aimed to hit the main/biggest. From what I can tell, it wouldn't make a meaningful difference to use those additionally.

³ Has ads interrupting the stream.

⁴ Kanopy uses free credits for movies with 15 provided per month. Watching the 11 movies will use 22 credits so take 2 months.

The full list:

So we have a Hulu subscription that is nearing $100! My husband is over it, he wants our whole Disney+Hulu out. The only problem is that I like to stream ABC news live during the day from my app on my phone. This stream also plays my local ABC news affiliate a few times a day. Is there a way for me stream both of these in the way I do from the news tab in the Hulu app? I do get commercials during this stream so that’s not an issue. Would the ABC streaming app be all I need to cover the local and headline news? We have a Roku TV and loads of other streaming apps.